If you’ve ever used a Mac running OS X Lion, then there’s a good chance you’ve played with AirDrop. The drag-and-drop feature allows users to share content between computers on a common Wi-Fi network with understated ease.

It’s such a cool feature, in fact, that a lot of folks have wondered when Apple is going to bring it to iOS. Just imagine dragging and dropping files to your iPhone or iPad — it’d be awesome. Especially if it looked anything like this…

This amazing concept comes from Ishac Bertran, an industrial engineer and all-around thinker. The idea was born out of frustration one day when Bertran found himself in a common predicament, trying to share content from his computer to a mobile device.

Sure there are services like Pocket, iCloud, and Dropbox that aim to help keep our devices connected, but it all still feels so overly complicated. Enter Bertran’s idea, which he calls “Natural interactions with spatially aware devices.”

Bertran explains that computers and mobile devices could use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to detect each other, thus allowing them to enter the ‘drag and drop’ sharing mode. The drag and drop gesture, however, would just be user-facing, and the actual transfer of data would be handled by a cloud service in the background. Interesting.

The whole process screams Apple, as it takes a normally tedious process (plug in chord, run iTunes, etc.) and makes it much more natural. It essentially makes the technology get out of the way — a line often used to describe iOS devices.

We don’t foresee Apple bringing anything like this to its mobile platform in the near future. But, as with other awesome concepts we’ve seen, our fingers are crossed that it’s taking notes.

this would be nuts! This would make life soO easy! Apple is all about making stuff that works the way a “non-computer person” thinks it should. i.e., this should be a thing. Its funny how OSX is so intuitive but iOS is almost the exact opposite.

This is definitely something that would set iOS devices apart from the rest. iTunes is the number one complaint of all Apple users. Just think: NO MORE SYNCING. Syncing is the worst idea ever.. i want to be able to add new content without replacing what is already present.

Simply Amazing..

Aric Bolf

I don’t sync my phone anymore. Its not needed. I update and install everything from my phone. And i can browse on my desktop for new apps, click install, and it goes to my phone without touching my phone.

but seems like option+click and send to phone..ipad..droid..etc. would be quicker to flop tons of files quickly, and one drawback if your going to transfer a gig video file i think anyone would get tired of holding the phone up.

I think the most realistic version of this would be simply dragging stuff into Airdrop in finder and being able to send It to your iDevices instead of just Macs. Apple would just need an Airdrop app or something in the settings app in a future iOS. And why would I want to hold my iPhone up to the screen like that? I can already sync stuff to my iPhone without it even having to be in the same room, I would hate to have to put it up to my non existent touchscreen MacBook to copy stuff over to it everytime. Thats basically like having it plugged in with a cord except you have to physically hold up the iPhone as well. This is even a step backwards from iTunes wi-fi sync lol.

Falk M.

This plus the fact that this shall go via a cloud service when you’re already nextto each other.

Like express mailing your neighbor the salt he asked for…
Ridiculous

Jamal22

Agreed. Making something so convoluted when there are simple answers; even answers that already have been solved. Bluetooth is a simple answer, but instead we get Bucktooth.

I WOULD PAY SO MUCH!!! for a app, where u can import songs into the music app AND sync it with itunes so the songs are in the itunes libary so that a computer wouldn’t be necessary anymore.
– don’t like the way spotify works i want it in my music app!

Touchscreen on a macbook… I don’t see this happening anytime soon. Even with WWDC tomorrow, I don’t see the Mac doing much with touch screen, Their trackpads are good enough. Really neat concept though.

Has anyone here actually used an iPad? It’s a complete mutherfucka to get stuff on and off. You can’t just lob your shit into a common folder and open it with whatever App you want – like Android, or any other OS for that matter – you’re supposed to move it to the root folder of one App, and only one App, using that cunt of a music program iTunes.

as a iOS dev, I’m really curious how the proximity detection will work to tell that the iOS device is to the left or to the right (or above or below) the monitor so you know where the drag is going to..

also: what sandbox will it be dropped into? current app? a shared space?

Beracah Gaurnier

That was a cool trick. The video was obviously fake because we know that macs don’t have touch capabilities at this time. The cool trick was how they made it look like it did.